The ragin’ Cajun and Obama

Politics is an ugly and cynical profession with more than its share of phonies and opportunists who tell you what you want to hear so they get where they want to go.

So it’s refreshing to see a political pro let his guard down and display his emotions in defense of a state he loves.

That’s what is so noteworthy about Democratic strategist James Carville’s recent no-holds-barred criticism of President Barack Obama for a totally inadequate response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s been about 40 days since the Deepwater Horizon platform exploded, gushing millions of gallons of oil. The spill has endangered the local fishing industry and threatens to ruin coastal wetlands and wildlife for many generations to come.

The state that has been most heavily impacted by this environmental disaster is Louisiana. According to Gov. Bobby Jindal, more than 100 miles of Louisiana coastline are in the spill’s path. Jindal is furious at the Army Corps of Engineers, which until Thursday had refused to grant permits to allow the state to build sand barriers that might slow the spread of crude toward the shoreline. Jindal had threatened to sidestep Washington and push ahead with those plans on his own regardless of the consequences. The governor has been bold and tenacious in defense of the people of his state, showing real leadership.

Contrast that with Obama, who seems to be taking a wait-and-see approach. He dispatched Adm. Thad Allen, the former Coast Guard commandant, and passed the buck to BP by stating that the spill was the company’s fault and the cleanup was its responsibility. Behind closed doors, Obama reportedly got frustrated and told aides to “just plug the damn hole.” And last week, he traveled to the region for the second time since the spill.

That wasn’t good enough for Carville. Raised in the Bayou State, the political strategist graduated from college and law school at Louisiana State University. He recently moved his family from Washington to New Orleans and took a job teaching political science at Tulane University. Carville is “all-in” with his native state. As one of Obama’s most visible and most vocal supporters, he is outraged that the president isn’t more vested in the recovery effort.

Carville got emotional and nearly broke down during an interview last week on ABC’s “Good Morning America” with his old friend, George Stephanopoulos, with whom Carville worked during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

“I have no idea why their attitude was so hands-offy here,” Carville said of the White House. “It’s just unbelievable.”

He argued that Obama could have done several things such as deploying more people for cleanup work and not Cabinet officials looking to hold news conferences. After all, people are hurting, Carville said. “They’re begging for something down here and (Obama) just looks like he’s not involved in this. Man, you’ve got to get down here and get control of this, put somebody in charge of this thing and get this thing moving. We’re about to die down here.” Later in the day, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Carville’s longtime friend and business partner Paul Begala, who is from neighboring Texas, if he was as upset as Carville over the administration’s response to the oil spill.